Only Lovers Left Alive – A bloody romance for the ages

“Los Angeles,” bristles rock ‘n’ roll vampire Tom Hiddelston in his gruff, laconic drawl, “Zombie Central.”

Enigmatic director Jim Jarmusch’s new drama Only Lovers Left Alive flips the script on a tired vampire genre by featuring the popular Thor and The Avengers antagonist and his estranged bride, Oscar winner and queen of creep Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), as long-living bloodsuckers who are aghast and wilting from the onslaught of modern humanity—the “zombies” referenced in Hiddelston’s pithy put down of America’s cultural capital.

More of a deliberately paced character study and hesitant reunion film than any kind of dark thriller most commonly associated with fanged foes, Jarmusch (Stranger than Paradise, Broken Flowers) patiently lets the struggles these vampires face night after night sink in deep.

Hidden away in a run-down, industrial sector of blighted Detroit, rocker Hiddelston, who hints that he’s given compositions away to some of history’s musical greats, now records alone and releases his tunes anonymously. His only connection to the outside world is a gee-wiz groupie—a perfectly cast Anton Yelchin—that he trusts with routine errands and pays handsomely with thick wads of cash. But Hiddelston’s despair may be pushed to the edge when he asks Yelchin to have one wooden bullet made (presumably the only thing he can use to kill himself). Across the world in Tangier, Swinton calls Hiddelston and initiates a meeting. Their relationship is rekindled, but is it too late?

This film is gorgeously shot. Detroit has never looked more like a wasteland, and Jarmusch’s Morocco is drenched in golden tones and syrupy exotica. While John Hurt—brilliant as Christopher Marlowe, the man Jarmusch pushes as the real genius behind “Shakespeare”—and Mia Wasikowska as Swinton’s petulant, trouble-making little “sister” provide excellent support, it is the unspoken but immeasurable chemistry between the leads that keeps this somewhat aimless plot on the tracks.

Sparks of uneasy humor and playful twists on vampire lore help as well, but still this film requires patience, though it is definitely rewarded. If you’re in the mood for something spooky, but thought provoking, and you’re tired of the traditional vampire narrative, give Only Lovers Left Alive a bite. Watch the trailer below: